Friday, September 18, 2015

It has become a pet peeve of mine that every time I'm out shopping, I have to go through a Q&A session just to pay."Do you have our Happy Shopper card?""You could earn 12 points on today's purchase."If you agree to sign up, you then must spend the next five minutes spelling out your name, email address, and home address. You'll then be the lucky owner of yet another piece of plastic to dangle from your keychain.

I've learned to just say "no."For my husband's birthday earlier this year, I stopped by Sears to buy him a piece of luggage. I finally hauled it over to the cash register, where the kind cashier checked me out and asked the dreaded question."Do you have a Sears rewards card?""No, I don't really shop here. It's been something like 11 years since I've even been in your store.""You can use it at Kmart, too!"

Seriously?

I wonder if anyone actually owns this card. Are there still people who shop at Sears or Kmart every single week?

Blurb:Becca Daniels needs a passing math grade…but what she wants is to spend more time with Toby Michaels. The only problem is Toby is her best friend’s twin, and Tori has a very firm “no dating the brother” policy. But Becca’s grade has hit rock bottom and she needs a tutor. It just so happens that Toby is a math genius and more than happy to help—lucky her! Working so closely with the handsome, popular Toby, Becca can’t hide her attraction, and it soon becomes obvious he feels the same way. Becca doesn’t want to lose her best friend, but she isn’t willing to give up Toby either. At first, sneaking around is fun, stealing kisses right under Tori’s nose. But things take an ugly turn when Toby’s ex-girlfriend Meredith catches them together. Meredith demands Toby take her back and restore her reputation, or she’ll tell Tori their secret. Do they dare tell Tori the truth? Or would that just make things worse? Surrounded by secrets and knee-deep in deception, something has to give…

How far is Meredith willing to go to keep Toby and Becca apart?

And how much is Becca willing to risk to keep…

Our Little Secret?

Bio:

Ashelyn Drake is a New Adult and Young Adult romance author. While it’s rare for her not to have either a book in hand or her fingers flying across a laptop, she also enjoys spending time with her family. She believes you are never too old to enjoy a good swing set and there’s never a bad time for some dark chocolate. She is represented by Sarah Negovetich of Corvisiero Literary Agency.

Monday, September 14, 2015

I hate going to the grocery store. Hate, hate, hate it. First there are the crowded aisles.

Then there's the mundanity of picking out groceries for the week.

Then there's the fact that I always seem to get the noisy cart.

The only thing that makes it somewhat better is talking to the (usually) friendly cashiers. It's why I go to this store...

Instead of this one...

I went to Publix early Sunday morning, determined to beat the crowd. The aisles were mostly empty, with the exception of a few stock people. One was almost in my way but not quite. "Good morning," she said as I reached for the sour cream."You're fine," I said, meaning, 'don't bother moving because you aren't in my way.' My comment was met with that awkward silence where you realize what you SHOULD have said was just, 'Good morning' in reply. So I did what any introvert would do...

By the time I arrived at the cash register, I was ready to make less awkward conversation. I stepped up and made a joking comment about the hard work that goes into unloading a cart. The response?

She did not respond. She made not a single comment the entire time she scanned, aside from the usual, "Would you like your meat in plastic bags?" type of questions. I realized in the five or so minutes that it took her to scan my items that if you don't make conversation, the entire checkout process is very, very awkward.

I'm an introvert. I DO like conversation...but I don't feel 100-percent comfortable with it, if that makes sense. I always feel like I'm making a complete idiot of myself.

Do you make idle chitchat when you're at checkout or would you prefer to just stand there in silence?